


A Wrinkle in Time

by ferric



Category: Social Network (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-25
Updated: 2012-06-25
Packaged: 2017-11-08 13:19:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/443610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferric/pseuds/ferric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark somehow creates Skynet. Eduardo comes back from the future to stop him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wrinkle in Time

Mark was waiting when Eduardo walked through the doors. 

"Have a seat," Mark gestured to the arm chair next to his. 

Eduardo tightened his grip on his gun. He aimed it at Mark's head and put his finger on the trigger. He was here for a purpose and he wasn't going to back out of it, regardless of his feelings on the matter.

"You knew that I would come," Eduardo tried not to let the surprise seep into his voice. 

"I've been waiting for you," Mark replied calmly, taking another sip of coffee and watching the snowflakes clinging desperately on the edges of his window. The world outside was covered in white. A cruel white. A cold white. A silent white. An empty white like the air in this office.

Mark was facing the window, but Eduardo knew that Mark could see his thin and pale reflection on the fragile glass. Mark refused to turn back and look at him. Eduardo wasn't sure if he wanted him to. It would make pulling the trigger much more difficult. 

He wondered when Mark started to drink coffee. Sugarless. Dark. Bitter. The Mark he remembered hated the substance, preferring something sweet and energy-packed. Eduardo could see that the stress of running a multi-billion dollar company had worn down Mark's sharp edges, leaving behind tired, crinkling lines around his eyes. The coffee must have kept him going. 

"He told me that they would send someone, but he refused to say who it would be," said Mark. "I knew that it would be you."

"Who's 'he'?"

"Does it matter?" asked Mark. "Knowing who he is isn't going to help you pull that trigger." 

"How do I know that he wouldn't come after me?" Eduardo said bitterly. "You knew that I was coming. How do I know that he isn't behind that curtain over there watching us, waiting for an opportunity?"

"I told Sean not to come," said Mark. He took another sip of coffee. "He's not here, but you could check if you wish."

Eduardo was not serious about suspecting that someone was behind the curtain, but, just the thought of Sean, just the thought of Mark listening to Sean, just the thought of Mark trusting Sean, just the thought of Mark choosing Sean over him....

Eduardo fired a shot at the curtain.

It echoed through the hollow walls, screaming in the channels of his ears.

Mark didn't even flinch at the sound; as if he expected Eduardo to do what he did. 

No one was behind the curtain.

Eduardo suddenly felt angry, but he wasn't sure if he was angry toward Mark for believing that Eduardo would not trust him, or toward himself for proving Mark right. 

Eduardo wondered how Mark's life became after they parted ways, after the deposition, after everything between them collapsed. He wondered if Mark's nights were as long and hollow as his. Probably, if Mark was waiting for someone he once knew to betray him. 

At that thought, the gun suddenly became heavier in Eduardo's hand. His fingers felt like ice. He couldn’t move them. He couldn’t pull the trigger.

“Why did you do it?” Eduardo asked because he had to know. He wasn’t sure if hearing the answer would make it easier to justify what he came to do. “Why did you build it?”

Eduardo wasn’t used to this Mark, this Mark who was so worn and tired. This Mark who didn’t even try to save his own life. This Mark who was so calm at the face of death. This Mark who expected death. This Mark who waited for death by Eduardo’s own hands. 

This Mark who looked so resigned. Eduardo had never seen such a defeated look on his face.

“I built it for you,” Mark replied. 

Eduardo choked back a hysterical laugh. Mark built Skynet for him. For him? “You wanted to destroy the human race for me?”

“I don’t understand,” said Mark. Eduardo could see the reflection of his frown on the glass. 

“Your creation, Mark. The one that you claimed was some fucking tribute to me?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Mark’s frown deepened on the faint reflection of the window.

“Then what was it then?” Eduardo gritted his teeth, not knowing, again, if his frustration was toward Mark or toward himself for being indecisive now, because a part of Eduardo wanted Mark to give a reason for him to lower the gun.

“It was supposed to be ours,” said Mark. “Facebook was ours.” He turned to Eduardo at last, and Eduardo couldn’t do it, couldn’t pull the trigger because this is Mark, for god’s sake. Mark. Mark. Mark. Mark.

“I wasn’t talking about Facebook.”

“What were you talking about then?” And Mark looked confused, truly confused.

Eduardo was startled with Mark’s obliviousness to the conversation at hand. This Mark wasn’t the Mark that began the coding for Skynet. This Mark wasn’t the Mark who disappeared without a trace after Eduardo tried to get in contact with him, years after the deposition, trying for reconciliation. This Mark was the Mark who sat across from him in that panel with the lawyers. This Mark was the Mark who left Harvard for a dream that was too heavy for Eduardo to carry with him. 

This Mark was here, real and frighteningly young. 

Eduardo lowered the gun, walking slowly toward Mark, not daring to tear his eyes from him in fear that Mark might disappear. Eduardo missed this Mark, missed him so much, missed his neurotic ways and his meaningful silence and even the furious sound of his fingers flying over the keyboard. Missed having this Mark by his side. 

Eduardo could see Mark trembling slightly up close, his hands tightening on the coffee cup in his hands, his gaze fluttering away from Eduardo. Eduardo slid on to his knees, prying Mark’s fingers from the cup. “Look at me,” he whispered. “Please,” Eduardo pleaded, because he needed to see, needed to know….

And Mark met his eyes at last, his gaze sad and lonely and apologetic and regretful and filled with I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, and Eduardo felt something clumping in his throat and in his heart, because he finally understood that he had been waiting for this all along, for Mark to look at him again, for Mark to apologize. He didn’t need to know and he didn’t need to care if humanity would not survive with Mark still alive because Mark was here, Mark was sorry for what he did and that was all that mattered.

Eduardo was sorry too. 

“Wardo,” Mark choked, his small voice sounded so loud and fragile in this empty office.

“Shhhhh,” Eduardo flicked the safety back and slid his gun on the floor. He wasn’t going to need it. 

Eduardo placed a finger on Mark’s lips when Mark was about to say something. “I forgive you.” He slid his other hand under Mark’s chin and pulled him in, running his cold lips over Mark’s, sliding his tongue in Mark’s parted mouth, devouring him. 

Mark was here and Mark was sorry and Eduardo was sorry too, but most importantly, Mark was here and Mark was his. 

***

Eduardo met Sean a month later by accident. 

By Eduardo’s request, no one else but Mark knew that Eduardo was here with him. Not even Dustin and Chris. Eduardo wasn’t the Eduardo from this time, so anyone else knowing about his existence here would be troublesome.

Sean stopped by and Eduardo opened the front door without checking who it was, thinking that it was pizza delivery. 

Sean didn’t look surprised to see him. He walked in without Eduardo’s permission. 

“Does he know you’re not his Eduardo?” Sean asked, getting straight to the point. 

Eduardo wasn’t surprised that Sean knew. After all, Sean was the one who warned Mark that he was coming. 

And Mark always listened to Sean.

“Yes,” Eduardo replied coolly. “What of it?”

“Just checking,” Sean studied him, as if searching for something. Seemingly satisfied with what he found, Sean continued. “You told me to have Mark waiting for you.”

“I don’t understand,” Eduardo said carefully. 

“Back then,” Sean explained. “You told me that you had a job for me, and you sent me back here, to this time period, to meet Mark, to guide him. To help him build what will be Facebook.” Sean frowned. “You told me to make Mark betrayed the you from the past, to prepare Mark of what to come.” 

“But now you’re here,” Sean sighed, relieved. “I supposed my job is done.”

And with that, Sean walked out the door and didn’t look back.

***

Eduardo didn’t understand until three years later. 

Mark created something amazing, something wonderful, something that he recognized. Something that could rip the fabric of time and reconstruct it to the human heart’s content. Eduardo recognized it because this was how the Resistance forces from the future sent him back in time to stop Mark from building Skynet. 

Mark showed it to Eduardo and no one else. 

***

Eduardo was browsing the internet on Mark’s laptop when it happened. 

 

Mark was sleeping next to him, dead exhausted. Eduardo was borrowing his laptop and making a little game out of the news’ headlines by predicting their future outcomes. He was cheating, but no one was going to call him out on it. 

At the bottom right corner of the screen, a tiny window popped up, notifying an email from an address that he didn’t need to look twice to recognize. 

Eduardo clicked on the window. 

His eyes skimmed the content of the email, but he already knew it by heart. I’m sorry and I’m sorry and We were both stupid and We shouldn’t let our own selfishness destroy our friendship so easily like this. 

After all, Eduardo was the one who typed it up years ago. His past-self, at least. 

He should leave this email here. He should let Mark read it. He should let Mark reconcile with his past-self. This was the email that Mark was waiting for, this was the email that Mark wanted to read, this was the email that would prompt Mark to drop everything and get on the first plane to Singapore. 

But Eduardo clicked on the “Delete” button. 

He couldn’t let Mark read this email because Mark was here and Mark was his. 

***

Eduardo met Sean a month later. Not the Sean he knew, but a younger Sean. A Sean that had never met him before and a Sean that only knew Mark Zuckerberg through the news. His name was Michael. He came from a poor family, but was a genius with programming. He thirsted for recognition. He thirsted for fame. 

Eduardo approached him. Eduardo showed him Mark’s genius time-machine and said, “I have a job for you.”

Sean took it. 

***

Eduardo knew that Mark was still waiting for the Eduardo that was his past.

“Come with me,” Eduardo said. He needed to get Mark away from here. He knew that within a few months, the Eduardo that was his past will try to track Mark down. 

“I can’t leave,” Mark whispered. “I can’t leave—” He didn’t finish, but Eduardo knew that Mark meant to say that he couldn’t leave his Wardo, not him, but the other Eduardo. The Eduardo that was his past. The one that sat across from him in that panel of lawyers. The one that smashed the laptop to pieces with an angry, “Lawyer up, asshole.” The one that was now in Singapore licking his wounds. The one that sent Mark that email seeking reconciliation. The one that lost his Mark and will not find him again. 

“He won’t forgive you,” Eduardo said. “I know because I was him.”

Mark was still hesitant.

“Come with me.” Eduardo reached out a hand toward Mark. “He doesn’t forgive you, but I do.”

Mark glanced up at Eduardo and took his offered hand, because this Mark was his.

***

“I don’t know if I can build it,” said Mark.

“You can,” said Eduardo, pulling Mark into his arms. “I know you can.”

“I’ll try,” Mark said hesitantly. “I’ll try it for you.”

Eduardo knew that Mark will build it because Mark was his, and Mark would do it for him, because this Eduardo was Mark’s.

“I will call it ‘Skynet’.”

**Author's Note:**

> Eduardo from the future knows that if he let Mark reconciles with current Eduardo, he wouldn't exist, or he would, except he wouldn't be who he is. In order for the past events to support his existence so that he could stay with Mark, he needs Mark to build Skynet, which prompts the chain of events to where he is now.


End file.
